I'd Rather be Alone
by Strangled Creativity
Summary: Natsu was really hurt when Igneel left him all alone again so he decided not to let anyone else be close to him except for Wendy who was like his little sister. Will Fairy Tail crack away his mask or will he remain the way he is? Everyone knows that most broken things can be fixed, but just how broken is Natsu? (AU but the regular universe will be mentioned)
1. Chapter 1

**I don't know where this came from but I like the stories where Natsu puts on a mask so I thought I would try it out and there are quite a few treats I have ready for you guys so Enjoy! (I'm sorry if I made any mistakes. Please make me aware of them in the reviews or something,) Constructive criticism is welcome but please do not tell me that my story is awful, if you do not enjoy it please go elsewhere. Thank you. I'm not very good with beginnings so I hope you like it.**

* * *

Natsu Dragneel gave up after Igneel left him. He had been so alone when the fire dragon had found him and now he was in the same position because the one that had taken away the feeling of loneliness had left and given it back. He'd lock his feeling up, and to start that would mean changing his appearance. Tears still dried on his face, the young mage walked to the nearest shop and bought some black hair dye with the money that had been left for him by Igneel. He didn't have a place to dye his hair yet but he knew that he would eventually. He'd stop caring after he dyed his hair… it would be like a symbol. Natsu wandered around for a few days, hoping to find Igneel along the way. So far… no good. Natsu had decided that he would find an inn tonight and dye his hair then. One week and no progress, Igneel had really left him.

Natsu was deep in thought about why Igneel had left when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. "Big Brother Natsu? Is that you?"

Natsu whirled around to see a small girl with blue hair staring up at him. "Wendy? What are you doing here?"

The little girl teared up "Grandeeny left me! I've looked but I can't find her anywhere! This nice man named Jellal helped me look but we couldn't find her. Hey! I have something I want to show you!" Wendy started looking around for something but she obviously couldn't find it. "Kitty? Where are you?"

"Kitty?" Natsu looked around but he saw no sign of a cat anywhere.

"I met this nice kitty named Charla. She can even talk!" Wendy continued to look around until she saw a small wing poking out from behind a pole.

"A talking cat? How cool!" Natsu knew he would never be able to close his heart off to her. She was like his little sister. One person. That was his limit. No one else would see the real him. Wendy ran to the pole where she saw the wing and practically chased the cat out into the open.

"Stop child!" The cat flew straight into Natsu, as she had been distracted and not paying attention. "Sorry"

"So you're the talking cat? How cool!" Natsu was fascinated by the cat, he inspected the cat much to Charla's displeasure.

"Will you stop that!" she demanded. Natsu jumped back, he had no clue what Charla was capable of so just in case she could shoot lasers from her eyes he stayed a certain distance away for a while.

Natsu, Wendy, and Charla wandered for a while until they came across the Galezeal Inn. "How about we stay here tonight?" suggested Natsu.

"Sounds good to me!" Wendy was overjoyed. She was afraid that she was going to be alone but now that Natsu had found her, she knew that she would never be alone again. Natsu paid for the room and before they knew it Wendy was passed out on one of the beds.

"If she wakes up tell her I'm in the shower," Natsu told Charla. He didn't want her to wake up and think that he had left her.

"I will," Charla assured the boy.

Natsu grabbed his hair dye out from out of his bag and walked into the bathroom. It ended up taking him an hour and a half to dye his hair so of course Wendy had gotten worried and knocked several times asking if he was alright. When his hair was dried enough he walked out of the bathroom (fully clothed of course) "I'm out of the bathroom if you need it!" he yelled. Wendy rushed past him and straight into the bathroom. She had stood there for a second after she closed the door, when she passed Natsu something was different. She quietly opened the door and stared at Natsu and then she realized what was wrong. His hair… it was no longer pink. It was black. She was about to say something but then she realized that she still needed to go to the bathroom.

* * *

"Natsu?" questioned Charla "What happened to your hair?"

"Um… I dyed it… obviously" Natsu rolled his eyes at the stupid question.

"Yes… but why? You're a little too young to be making an artistic statement," Charla hoped he would answer. She didn't want to pester him but she would if she had too.

"It's like a symbol I suppose. Me starting a new life since Igneel left," Natsu explained. If he was going to keep up his not letting people in he would have to stop explaining everything but Wendy and Charla were past the barrier. He would explain everything to them if they wanted to know. They were special.

Charla sighed, "I suppose that makes sense,"

"By the way, the last time I checked I was older than you" Natsu didn't smirk or laugh when he said it. Charla hadn't known the boy very long but she could tell that that was unusual.

Before Charla could say anything about it Wendy burst into the room and shouted "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU'RE HAIR!"

"I dyed it," he answered. "As a symbol of a new life with you and Charla,"

Wendy visibly relaxed. "You should've told me Big Brother, I would've done it with you!"

"And ruin your beautiful blue hair. I wouldn't let you," stated Natsu.

"Your pink hair was pretty too," Wendy frowned at him.

"It's too late now I suppose. Let's just go to bed," Natsu picked up the small child. "I'll even train with you in the morning and help teach you what Grandeeney couldn't,"

Wendy smiled "Yay! I can't wait!"

Natsu put her down on the bed lightly and tucked her in lightly. Slowly and quietly he walked over to his bed and laid down. He slowly pulled his scarf from his neck and stared at it. "Why," tears formed in his eyes. "Why'd you leave me?"

Charla stared at the boy in shock. She had almost forgotten that the boy was only ten. Of course he would be upset about his father leaving him. He wouldn't show it in front of Wendy because she was hurting about Grandeeney and he had to be there so she would stay strong. Natsu was also older so he had been more attached to Igneel than Wendy had been to Grandeeney. The boy had clutched onto the scarf and fallen asleep, Tears still falling from his eyes. Charla flew over to him and wiped away his tears.

"We're here for you," Charla then curled up next to the boy to comfort him and fell asleep.

* * *

"Ok. So how far did you get with Auntie Grandeeney?" Natsu questioned. This launched Wendy into a long explanation of all the spells she knew. Natsu sighed but he listened on.

"Did you get all that?" Wendy smiled at Natsu, who responded with a nod.

"We're gonna do a spell a day, but you're going to have to take this seriously," said Natsu.

"Will do!" Wendy was excited to learn more spells, although she wasn't exactly sure how Natsu knew the rest of the Sky Dragon Slayer spells she wasn't going to question it.

"Ok, so the ones she hasn't taught you yet are quite high level. She probably was just going to have you focus on those and then teach you the higher ones later, but if you're sure you want to know these—"

"I do!" Wendy had a look of determination in her eyes that assured Natsu that she was serious. Natsu had been approached by his Aunt several years ago and she made him promise that he would teach Wendy the rest of the moves for Sky Dragon Slayer's if something were to happen. In exchange she would leave Wendy with a list of all the Fire Dragon Slayer spells and she would give him a ride on her back.

"The next move is Sky Dragon: Wings of Destruction" Natsu then sighed, his aunt had given him instructions on how to teach her this but it's not like he could give her a demonstration. Natsu studied the book that had been left by Grandeeney until he saw a magic circle placed at the bottom of the page with an up arrow next to it. "I wonder," he then pressed the magic circle and swiped upwards. The wind started to move until there was a hologram of Grandeeney in her human form.

"Sky Dragon: Wings of Destruction" yelled the hologram. White wings formed behind her that appeared to be wind revolving around to make wings. The wings then flapped at the lake behind them and both children watched as the water was almost completely removed from the lake. So the hologram could interact with its surroundings. Very interesting magic indeed.

"In order to use this magic you must first concentrate on controlling the air behind you," instructed the hologram.

"Oi," thought Natsu, "Exactly how much teaching am I actually doing here?"

Wendy closed her eyes and Natsu felt a slight breeze coming from behind where Wendy was.

"Good job," said Natsu, he wanted to smile but he kept a blank face. He had to master hiding his emotions. "Well, if she's teaching you… I'm just going to train over here," Natsu pulled out the book that his Aunt had given him and turned to the next spell he needed to know. Fire Dragon Rampaging Spirit. Interesting name, hopefully the spell was equally impressive. He swiped up on the magic circle and he saw his father in his human standing there. He wanted to talk to him and interact with him, luckily for Wendy she had never known what Grandeeney looked like in her human form. The hologram of Igneel did not acknowledge Natsu. Training wasn't the same. He would get the instruction but there was no one there to fix his posture and tell him that he wasn't doing it right, no one to comfort him when he got frustrated and felt like he couldn't learn the spell. Tears threatened to fall from the young boys face but he wouldn't let them. He wasn't allowed to cry anymore. He had to stay strong for Wendy and for himself.

* * *

 **6 months later**

"Big brother Natsu look!" Wendy excitedly hopped around, after several hours on a train with motion sick Natsu and they had finally made it to the next town. Magnolia. Unfortunately Natsu and Wendy had finally run out of money, so they had no way of paying for a room. Natsu hadn't told Wendy yet, he was just banking on some really really good luck.

Over the past six months, both mages had made serious improvement in there magic. They trained every day and there was still more progress to be made. Wendy always claimed that it wasn't fair that Natsu was stronger than her but he always said that it was because he was older and that she would catch up one day.

"What're you kids doing?" questioned a voice. Natsu whirled around and looked down to see a tiny old man. "I don't recognize you,"

"Obviously," huffed Natsu. "We aren't from here,"

"Where are you from?" the old man was genuinely curious. Natsu stayed distant, Wendy would probably take care of it so he didn't have too.

"We're not really from anywhere," Wendy was still cheerful. She had become extra cheerful when she realized that Natsu was trying to block off his heart. If he wouldn't be cheerful then she would do it for him. It had started a few months ago and Natsu was secretly happy about it.

The old man sent them a questioning look, "What do you mean by that,"

"We were raised in a forest so we really don't know where that is… we've been going place to place training ever since our parents left. Isn't that right Big Brother?" Wendy smiled a very cheerful smile and Natsu patted her head.

"Yes," the answer was monotone, the old man peered up at Natsu's emotionless face and squinted his eyes like he knew exactly what Natsu was doing.

"So you kids have nowhere to go?" the old man wanted to make sure he was right before he did anything to scare the kids off.

"Nope, but Big Brother Natsu will probably just find an inn to stay at," explained Wendy.

"I wont," Natsu replied "We're out of money," his voice was still monotone which thoroughly annoyed the old man. The young boy was too young to want to hide his emotions like that.

A white cat came flying up behind them. "How can you say that so casually,"

"It's the truth isn't it?" Natsu glared at the cat but the old man could see that the cat knew that he wasn't serious. Wait a second. Talking cat?

"Did that cat… just talk?" the old man was clearly shocked by Charla's existence.

"Obviously. Can't you hear?" Natsu rolled his eyes.

The old man scowled. "Have you ever heard of the guild Fairy Tail?"

"Fairy Tail? Nope…" Natsu looked at the old man in confusion.

"Well I suppose that's understandable, considering that you lived in the forest. Well, it's my guild. Why don't you come and join. If you're out of money there are jobs that you can take for rewards," the old man explained.

Wendy's eyes lit up in excitement, "Can we Big Brother? Pleeeease?"

Natsu looked down at Wendy and sighed. He never could say no to her. "Of course we can,"

With that they followed the old man towards the Fairy Tail guild, and Wendy had a feeling that her Big Brother was going to have a hard time concealing his feelings with this new crowd of people.

* * *

 **Word Count: 2,298 (Not counting Author's Note or this)**


	2. Sorry for the Super Long Wait

None of my stories have been updated in over a month, so i'm copying this message into all of the incomplete ones to apologize for the fact that I have not been updating as of late. The only place I have found myself able to write given that my laptop had broken a few days after I last updated All Over Again. I just got a new one today and the keyboard is really nice so i'll probably be writing more. Just look out for updates in several of my stories if not all. I haven't been able to write except for in the morning with a time slot of about twenty minutes every day at my school in the library before class starts and I can't access the information i need for some of them because the school has blocked pretty much everything that isnt educational. I'm now beginning to make much faster process with my stories and I hope you can forgive me for the wait.


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